Driving mechanism for cigarette machines



E. l) SMlTf- DRIVING MECHANESM YUR CllAl MACHINES. APPLIcmoN minocT.15.1919.

l ,42 5,80 1 Patented Aug. 15, 1922h 2 SHEETS-SHEET BY E 7 M r ATTORNEY`E. D. SMIH.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES.

APPLscMmN mn) ocr. l5K 191s.

will" Hw IW uw WW AMQUWW JWIN ATTORNEY UNiTaD 4STATES PATENT clerics.

mamon n. SMITH, orimooxLYN, NEW Yonx, AssmNon 'rofamnmchg madame aroimnair compartir,` or NEW Yoan. N. Y., A comona'rion or Nrw man.'

DRIVING HECHANISH FOR CIGARETlTE MCINB.

- ploy a cigarette forming mechanism or cigarette machine properAoperating at constant speed, together with an automatic feed mechanismtherefor. It is well known in the lart tl'iat in preparing tobacco forcigarette manufacture succeeding lots are not always in the isaine orderor condition, and that whatever the order or condition when the tobaccois repared its condition is subtochan fore manufacture into oigates, thec ange being due to changes in `inospheric conditions or carelessness inhandling the tobacco. It is also well known that when there is any.change in the condition of the tobacco m a feed mechanism, there is a'corresponding change in the, rate of feed because the action of theunchanging parte` 0f the feed mechanism upon the tobacco diifeiawith itscondition. Such feedinechanilms therefbolre havealwa s b een ,'lul'ppedw a varia e s mec a-nism .by 'means of which the ratreif feed couldA bechanged hen change occurred in the co dition of l lingo. These automaticf aneghanisms were `s`"constm"cted that tobaccbghmdwere disentanged'froma als'up'ply opper and showered upon 's' Ix'iovi forwarding belt1the result be' t ata s eet of tobacco was formed onmtle belt,` thissheetconsisting of loose shreds individually disentangled from the massin the ho per. The forwarding belt slowly delivere the sheet to a pickermechanistn which acted thereupon and delivered the shreds in a shower tothe cigarette inachine proper. The quantit of tobacco on this forwardingbelt was su cient for about l thousand cigarettes` and at the usualspeed At which these machines were operated it took about three minutesfor a shredI to travel from the disentan ling mechanism 65 along theforwarding bet to the picker Speclcaton of Letters Patent.

reunitedA Aug-T15, 1922.V

Application Med October 15, 191.9. Serial le. 830,106.

mechanism which threw it downto the cigarette machine proper. In f hismachine the operator usually discovers that a change has occurred in thecoiditioof the tobacco by a change in the densit 'of the cigarettesmade; that is to say, he Aiscov'eirs that they are running toohard ortosoft, as the case may be. Heretofore when this hap ned, he could notchange the of t e cigarette forming mechanism for that wasV constant,but he could and did operate the variable speed device of the automaticfeed mechanism to increase or decrease its speed of operation. i Aprompt adjustment of the speed of' the feed. mechanism .to suitv the newconditions could not result in imv mediately correcting the error in thecigarette formin mechanism because tobacco enough for a tlousandcigarettes fed at the old r e had to be run out of the feed mechanismiiio the cigarette forming mechanismibefore the roper qiantity oftobacco couldmeich'tlie atter. hus, after'an error of feed had beendiscovered and the proper steps Vtakento correct that error, there' waselw' h logs of about a thousand cigarettes {oli-the market before theerror was hiea'llcoreted. Such crroi-s commonly several times a day witheach machnewand" a large number of machines 'the at loss was a,substantialfone.`j. h i; discizeredafterm yam oldrs,ys tem -o ffdr' iigci mechanisms a'tid" tobacco. therefor. is wron'g,f|mdV th the resentinvention is th P a drivin mechanism for whiche iminatesthe lossesaboveme "nes The `invention consists in mbinations and constructionswhich willl befl'iei'einafter fully descr'bed and then f fMealIy pointedout in claims hereunto" appended? ri" t In the accompany drawings, whichform a part of this ei cation and 1n which 100 like characters of reerence indicate the same or like parts, Fi 1 is a side elevation partlin section of a t evice constructed in acco ance with the invention, undFi 2 is a plan view parti broken avay of t e structure shown in ig. i.

Referring to the drawings, 3 more or less diagramuiatically indicates acigarette foirli` ingr mechanism of the well known Standard"` tvpe,while 4 more or less-diagram- Q and'operatedin the usual manner. l n

" By means of the 'uechanism just described, ing mechanism, of a tobaccofeed mechanism .of the cigarette forming .wll occurjii thestructuneshown as in 'the Aforwarding,'belt will not alwa 'sainedensity4 althoughthe fee mechanism" erator of a cigarette machine matica'll vindicates anautomatic feed mechchine is making cigarettes too4 soft or -too anismofY he wel] known Bonsa'ck type. The particular construction of the itwo mecha.- nisms lies wholly outside the present invention and adetailed descri tion thereof is unnecessary to a'fiillundlerstanding ofthe guidinghopper below the resent invention land is therefore omittedand any particular point of the tape vis in the interestof brevity andclearness. It thereforel under the guiding hopper "for a may be hereremarked,hoivevei-,thatthe feed corresponding lon er or shorter timethan it mechanism includes a 4feed drum 5, a filling; was before. It folows that when the speed drum 6, a disentangling roll 7, a forwarding ofthe tape is decreased, more tobacco will belt 8, and a picker roll 9,ali of the usual be showered upon it as it passes under fh'econstruction and operation.4 guidin hopper; and when its speed isrin- Asabove Iindicated. the cigarette fm'mcrease less tobacco will be showeredupon ing mechanism and tobacco feedA mechait and of course more tobaccoshowered upon nisliis differ from those well -knowii in the tape in agiven time results in harder the art only in so far as the drivingmechanism is concerned. In the presentinvencigarettes. tion, the tobaccofeed mechanism is operated recognized that any error in the tobacco atconstant speed, while the speed of the feed can be quickly compensatedby varying cigarette forming mechanism may be varied. therate of speedof the cigarette forming Vi ith thisv end in view, the feed mechanismmechanism and without the excessive loss 'in is rovided with a mainpower shaft 10 pro defective cigarettes heretofore encountered. vidiedwith a fast and loose pulley of I'Changes and variations may be made inordinary construction, over which runs a the'mec anism by means of whichthe invendniving belt 11 derivi its motion froma tion is carried intoeffect.' The invention suitable constant speedlligne shaft, The shaftVtherefore is not to be restricted to the pre- 10 also carries acqnicalulley 12. S'u cise details of the particular structure shown ported'iuhiracketslle-li olted to the siv` and described.

` mechanism is ai\ What is claimed is: power shaft forv that .mechanismmarked 15. `v-Kn'rhc combination with a cigarette form- This power shaftcarries viai.. reversely disin ech'anisgi, of a tobacco feed mechanismposed conica'i pulley 16, Running.r over the therefoefieans foroperating said feed pulleys 12 and 16 is a belt- 17 and thisvbeltmechanism at constant speed, and menus for is moved a-lon the pulleys 12and 16 by driving and varying'` the speed/0f said cigmeans of beltiftingforks 18 constructed iirette forming mech nism.

,. 2. The combination with a cigarette formvice to decrease or increasethe speedof the From the above it will be readily tjiejtobaccn'fedechanism is :driven at ciiistantfspeed an v the cigarette forming anism:is driven byimeans of the belt 17 t ceti heifen means lfor operatingsaid f c a ism at constant speed, and a vari le mec ed'device connectingsaid feed mechandsaid cigarette `forming mechanism riving the hitter.,

twp mechanisms, und the' and sai ,mijn be varied n will.. 1". .t0 be'uthat the same the condition of the tobacco therefor, means for operatingASaid feed mechanisniat constant speed,and a variable speed deviceconnecting said feed mec-haniSn'i :15nd said cigarette forming,rmechanism and driving the latter, said device including a connectingbelt, a belt. shifter` and aV pair of reversely disposed co`nicai,pulleys one carried .by each mechanism. I

In. testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification`ELBERON D. SMITH.

onesjanil thatthe sheet of tobacco un the s be of the runs at constantspeed. It is vwell known that the time consumed by any shred of tobeccoin traveling from the picker roll 9 down through the guiding hopper tothe cigarette forming mechanism is but a small fraction ofa secondffWhenan opequipped. with the present invention discovers that the ma- `3. Thecombination with a cigarette fomiing mechanism, of a tobacco feediliechanism` hard he at once operates thebelt shifting de,- Y

cigarette forming mechanism, including the rod forming tape which passesunder the f picker l'oll 9,

cigarettes, while less tobacco results in softer t

